The Packer Bill is back

HURLEY, Wis. — A Wisconsin senator is trying again to address the issue of border towns not being able to watch some Green Bay Packer games when local stations in neighboring states air other games instead. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., re-introduced S.2454, the “Go Pack Go Act” that requires cable, satellite and other video providers to offer Wisconsin subscribers access to programming from broadcast television stations in a Wisconsin media market. The Duluth-Superior media market includes Douglas, Bayfield, Ashland, Iron and Sawyer in Wisconsin and Gogebic County in Michigan. The 2019 regular season broadcasting schedule for the Packers includes 10 games on the Fox network, two games on ESPN, two games on CBS and two games on NBC. Packers games on Sept. 22, Nov. 10, Dec. 8, and Dec. 29 have conflicts that prioritize Vikings games on Minnesota stations when a Packers game is broadcast the same time on the same network. Similar legislation was introduced by Baldwin in 2018 but never made it to the committee. The bill aimed to require cable operators or satellite carriers to allow subscriber preference in the to choose the Packer games and other Wisconsin-based programming that does not normally air on the Minnesota affiliate stations of the local cable package.